Mbeki meets Mugabe – again

HARARE – South African President Thabo Mbeki met Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Saturday to try to help end a political crisis after a violent election that extended Mugabe’s 28-year rule.

The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had declined to meet Mbeki, who has tried to mediate between the two sides. Tsvangirai and his MDC have criticised Mbeki’s mediation efforts, accusing him of siding with Mugabe and have asked the African Union to send an envoy to help with the talks.Mugabe says he supports Mbeki’s role in the mediation but has remained defiant in the face of growing condemnation from Western governments and even African neighbours after his disputed re-election on June 27.”It is the view of the facilitators and the Zimbabwean leadership that we need to move with speed,” Mbeki told reporters after a brief meeting with Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a breakaway faction of the MDC.”We agreed that MDC Tsvangirai has to be part of the negotiations, so we are hoping that the process will take place with them.”Mugabe said on Friday the MDC must drop its claim to power and accept he was the rightful head of state.He said Zimbabwe’s crisis, which has ruined the economy and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states, must be settled internally.A spokesman for Tsvangirai’s MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the party was “mandated to negotiate under the resolutions of the Africa Union and the Southern Africa Development Community …on the basis that there is accountability (and) transparency”.”If we were meeting Mugabe as head of (the ruling party) Zanu-PF no problem but not as head of state because we would have endorsed him but you know that his position is in dispute,” Chimasa said.On Wednesday, Botswana said the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) must exclude Zimbabwe from their meetings following the recent presidential run-off elections.Botswana’s Vice President Mompati Merafhe said the elections did not meet the required minimum standard of free and fair and therefore did not legitimise Mugabe’s government.Merafhe’s speech, made to a closed door briefing at the African Union, was released to the media.”The election process did not meet the required minimum standards and did not reflect the unfettered will of the people of Zimbabwe, and Botswana’s position is that the outcome of these elections does not confer legitimacy on the government of President Robert Mugabe.”In our view it therefore follows that the representatives of the current ‘government’ in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC and AU meetings,” Merafhe said.Merafhe said Zimbabwe’s participation in the meetings of the two organisations would give “unqualified legitimacy” to a process that could not be considered legitimate.Botswana supported calls for a mediation process between Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC party and Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.Meanwhile The Star newspaper reported that Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal said they would also not recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s president following the “unfree and unfair” elections.Mbeki’s latest meeting with Mugabe follows the June 27 runoff election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate after Tsvangirai pulled out citing state-sponsored violence against MDC candidates and supporters.”We will of course engage the AU (African Union) and I am quite certain that they will make their own contribution to move the process forward,” said Mbeki.A White House official said on Saturday that Zimbabwe was certain to come up at the Group of Eight summit in Japan this week, which will also be attended by the heads of seven African states.In other developments, a film secretly taken by a Zimbabwe prison guard and smuggled out of the country shows rigging that took place for the June 27 run-off vote, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Saturday.The film taken by Shepherd Yuda using a camera supplied by the Guardian showed prison staff being told by a war veteran how to fill in their ballot papers for Mugabe.It was also reported that loyalists of Mugabe have attacked MDC supporters.On Thursday, people with small bundles of possessions milled outside the US mission in Harare.Among them were mothers with small children.One elderly man had a broken leg.It was not immediately clear if others had injuries.More than 300 opposition supporters who last week sought refuge at the South African Embassy in Harare have been taken to a camp outside the capital.Reports that violence and intimidation against opposition supporters have increased.”There has been a high increase in abductions, beatings and rapes since Zanu-PF claimed it had won the ‘election’ with a resounding victory,” the opposition said in a statement.At least 80 opposition supporters were killed before the runoff, and the opposition says more than 10 have been killed since.A group of armed men in army uniforms abducted opposition lawmaker-elect Naison Nemadziva at gunpoint on Monday.Elsewhere in Zimbabwe, a group of thugs invaded the Imire Safari Ranch, a designated black rhino breeding area 150 km northeast of Harare, the ranch owner said.The ranch has had previous problems with poachers.John Travers said six men invaded the ranch on Sunday, threatened to harm him unless he left, and forced him to shoot three impala for the men to eat.Travers said another group of men arrived on Wednesday night and threatened to kill him and his wife if the two did not leave by yesterday morning.Both were still at the ranch, also home to elephants, hyenas and buffalo, yesterday.The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority could not immediately be reached, but Travers said he had contacted them and was “very confident” that they would respond.Nampa-Reuters-APTsvangirai and his MDC have criticised Mbeki’s mediation efforts, accusing him of siding with Mugabe and have asked the African Union to send an envoy to help with the talks.Mugabe says he supports Mbeki’s role in the mediation but has remained defiant in the face of growing condemnation from Western governments and even African neighbours after his disputed re-election on June 27.”It is the view of the facilitators and the Zimbabwean leadership that we need to move with speed,” Mbeki told reporters after a brief meeting with Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a breakaway faction of the MDC.”We agreed that MDC Tsvangirai has to be part of the negotiations, so we are hoping that the process will take place with them.”Mugabe said on Friday the MDC must drop its claim to power and accept he was the rightful head of state.He said Zimbabwe’s crisis, which has ruined the economy and sent millions of refugees into neighbouring states, must be settled internally.A spokesman for Tsvangirai’s MDC, Nelson Chamisa, said the party was “mandated to negotiate under the resolutions of the Africa Union and the Southern Africa Development Community …on the basis that there is accountability (and) transparency”.”If we were meeting Mugabe as head of (the ruling party) Zanu-PF no problem but not as head of state because we would have endorsed him but you know that his position is in dispute,” Chimasa said.On Wednesday, Botswana said the African Union and Southern African Development Community (SADC) must exclude Zimbabwe from their meetings following the recent presidential run-off elections.Botswana’s Vice President Mompati Merafhe said the elections did not meet the required minimum standard of free and fair and therefore did not legitimise Mugabe’s government.Merafhe’s speech, made to a closed door briefing at the African Union, was released to the media.”The election process did not meet the required minimum standards and did not reflect the unfettered will of the people of Zimbabwe, and Botswana’s position is that the outcome of these elections does not confer legitimacy on the government of President Robert Mugabe.”In our view it therefore follows that the representatives of the current ‘government’ in Zimbabwe should be excluded from attending SADC and AU meetings,” Merafhe said.Merafhe said Zimbabwe’s participation in the meetings of the two organisations would give “unqualified legitimacy” to a process that could not be considered legitimate.Botswana supported calls for a mediation process between Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC party and Mugabe’s Zanu-PF.Meanwhile The Star newspaper reported that Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal said they would also not recognise Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s president following the “unfree and unfair” elections.Mbeki’s latest meeting with Mugabe follows the June 27 runoff election, in which Mugabe was the only candidate after Tsvangirai pulled out citing state-sponsored violence against MDC candidates and supporters.”We will of course engage the AU (African Union) and I am quite certain that they will make their own contribution to move the process forward,” said Mbeki.A White House official said on Saturday that Zimbabwe was certain to come up at the Group of Eight summit in Japan this week, which will also be attended by the heads of seven African states.In other developments, a film secretly taken by a Zimbabwe prison guard and smuggled out of the country shows rigging that took place for the June 27 run-off vote, Britain’s Guardian newspaper said on Saturday.The film taken by Shepherd Yuda using a camera supplied by the Guardian showed prison staff being told by a war veteran how to fill in their ballot papers for Mugabe.It was also reported that loyalists of Mugabe have attacked MDC supporters.On Thursday, people with small bundles of possessions milled outside the US mission in Harare.Among them were mothers with small children.One elderly man had a broken leg.It was not immediately clear if others had injuries.More than 300 opposition supporters who last week sought refuge at the South African Embassy in Harare have been taken to a camp outside the capital.Reports that violence and intimidation against opposition supporters have increased.”There has been a high increase in abductions, beatings and rapes since Zanu-PF claimed it had won the ‘election’ with a resounding victory,” the opposition said in a statement.At least 80 opposition supporters were killed before the runoff, and the opposition says more than 10 have been killed since.A group of armed men in army uniforms abducted opposition lawmaker-elect Naison Nemadziva at gunpoint on Monday.Elsewhere in Zimbabwe, a group of thugs invaded the Imire Safari Ranch, a designated black rhino breeding area 150 km northeast of Harare, the ranch owner said.The ranch has had previous problems with poachers.John Travers said six men invaded the ranch on Sunday, threatened to harm him unless he left, and forced him to shoot three impala for the men to eat.Travers said another group of men arrived on Wednesday night and threatened to kill him and his wife if the two did not leave by yesterday morning.Both were still at the ranch, also home to elephants, hyenas and buffalo, yesterday.The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority could not immediately be reached, but Travers said he had contacted them and was “very confident” that they would respond.Nampa-Reuters-AP